1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for sharing routing information within a network element of a telecommunication network according to the preamble of claim 1, and to a network element using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a telecommunication network the information travels across the network from network element to network element till it reaches the destination entity; each network element has generally a number of neighbouring network elements; a network element routes the information received to one of its neighbouring network elements, unless the destination entity is directly connected to it.
In the Internet Protocol world it is quite common, at least for network elements located in particular nodes of the network, that different routing protocols coexist in the same network element, for example OSPF and BGP.
Additionally, all network elements have generally at least two different sources of routes, namely: a routing protocol and the network management operator who is responsible for static and default routes and who acts through a management manager external to the network elements.
Each routing protocol maintains its private information base, that is a routing database, describing the routes learned through exchange of information with neighbouring network elements running the same routing protocol. Different routing protocols do not exchange any information spontaneously.
In those network elements running more than one routing protocol it is often necessary or useful to have at least a partial sharing of routing information deriving from different routing protocols.
In all network elements the routing protocol needs to use or share the routing information deriving from other sources, typically the static and default routes deriving from the network management operator through a network management manager; nowadays network elements of telecommunication networks always comprises a management agent adapted to communicate with a management manager in order to allow its remote management by the network operator.
The problem of sharing routing information has already been solved in commercially available telecommunication equipments.
Known solutions involve the use of a Command Line Interface (CLI) implemented in the management agent; the operator, through the management manager, can directly instruct a specified management agent to carry out a specified “redistribution command” of specified routing information.
These solutions imply a heavy task for the operator and, therefore, they are error-prone.